A Comparative Study on the Female Domestic Workers and Their Children in Kamrup Districts of Assam

This paper has been prepared to visualize relationships between the overall condition of the workers in Kamrup Metro and Kamrup rural areas of Assam. It throws light on how the female domestic workers engaged in part time work function differently in both the areas. The increase in the number of domestic workers has led to the growth of the urban middle class, especially the increase in the number of women working outside their homes and availability of cheap domestic labour. Kamrup Districts has witnessed large scale migration over the past few years of women from the interior areas of Assam, while in Kamrup metro, most of the migrants are from areas in lower Assam .The poor women who engage in domestic work are often unable to care for their own families, leaving their own children alone for the whole day. The study was conducted on adults ranging from 27 to 40 yrs of age. There were various reasons for which these female workers engaged in such kind of work, v.i.z, illiteracy, uncertain income of other family members and preference for part time domestic work, higher number of children with low income in the family. The children of such workers are sent to schools in Kamrup metro, while a handful of children were provided with education via various means in Kamrup rural. The wages of the workers in rural areas were not sufficient to send their children to proper schools. In this paper, some implications are provided to assist such workers in helping their children for education. The paper also deals with the educational status and the challenges faced by such workers in the daily affairs.